Introduction
Plaza Premium have a number of airport lounges worldwide, they are part of the priority pass network (so most of you will have free access to them through one of the premium credit cards). They have just launched their own loyalty program called ‘Arrture‘. At the moment there are 35 locations participating in 10 countries in 17 different international airports.
Earning & Redeeming Points
The program is currently pretty simple, once you’ve become a member (must sign up at one of the participating lounges) you’ll earn 100 points per visit and this specifically includes complimentary visits as part of a credit card benefit. At the moment you can redeem 2,000 points for a three hour visit at any Plaza Premium lounge.
Obviously if you have free access to the lounges anyway a free three hour visit isn’t that special but I suspect they will add other redemption options in the future and even if they don’t hopefully you can give/gift those passes to somebody else.
Other Benefits
Currently if you’re a member you also get a 15% discount on all walk-in lounge services, end to end airport services (e.g car transfers) and 15% discount at Wellness Spa’s.
Our Verdict
There isn’t a huge amount of value to be had here currently but my plan is to sign up next time I’m in an airport with a Plaza Premium lounge and accumulate points when possible & convenient. I’m not going to go out of my way to earn them, but I suspect they will become more useful in the future for those with already free access to lounges. It’s also possible I’m entirely wrong and I’ll waste a little bit of time.
The reason I do think it will become more useful is that they also run Aerotel, Allways & some airport dining stuff as well. I’m hoping that earning & redeeming points will be rolled out to those locations as well.
Hat tip to Head For Points
Here’s one piece of information I got from Arrture–it looks like they have a 3 year expiration on points.
Once your account is activated, the expiry for the accumulated points and subsequent will change to the end of the third full calendar year from the date the point was earned.
No US airport so far
Free passes may be good for when I cancel my Prestige then MB Plat. Although, for the foreseeable future, I’ll have some version of the Plat pretty much at all times.
I’m personally hoping I’ll be able to redeem them at Aerotel’s at some stage (and earn points at Aerotel).